


The Bitterness of Winter

by CloudHop



Series: pick me (nayana) [6]
Category: JBJ (Band), Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, First Day of School, Gen, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-14
Updated: 2017-09-14
Packaged: 2018-12-29 18:36:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12090978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CloudHop/pseuds/CloudHop
Summary: Samuel's first day of high school goes about as well as you'd expect. That is to say, it goes awful.





	The Bitterness of Winter

**Author's Note:**

> Hiyo! This is a partner fic with lelystra. Please read [ The Arrival of Spring ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12090429) for Daehwi's first day!  
> 

Samuel doesn’t like waiting. And he doesn’t like being late. And he especially doesn’t like being late because he has to wait for his _supposed_ best friend who _knows_ how much he hates being late. He checks his phone for the 5 th time. There are no new messages.

_7:28 A.M. Me: I’m outside your door_

_7:30 A.M. Me: Are you ready to go?_

His phone is still silent. He had sent those messages five minutes ago. Why wasn’t Daehwi answering?

_7:36 A.M. Daehwi: Wahh, I overslept! TT_

_7:36 A.M. Daehwi: I’ll hurry as fast as I can_

Samuel holds in the desire to curse loudly. He refuses to allow his reputation as the straight A, always on time student be tarnished because of his friend. A breeze blows through and Samuel shivers. He decides he’ll knock on the door.

“Ah! Hello Samuel-ah!”

“Hello! Is Daehwi ready? We’re going to be late.”

Daehwi’s mother laughs a bit and turns.

“Daehwi, Samuel’s here. He says you’re going to be late,” she calls. Samuel nearly rolls his eyes as he sees Daehwi stumble out, toast in his mouth.

“Oh my God, Daehwi! We’re going to be late!”

In later conversations, Samuel will deny that he was worried at all.

“Let’s go, let’s go!” Samuel cries, grabbing Daehwi’s hand. The two start running down the street, arriving at the subway station and squishing into a car with moments to spare. Samuel is breathing hard, and Daehwi is full out heaving. He catches Daehwi’s eye and his face breaks out into a grin, then a complete laugh. Samuel won’t ever admit it, but he likes the excitement Daehwi brings to his life.

Samuel finally has a chance to survey the uniform on somebody else.

“Hey, you look nice in the uniform!”

Daehwi smiles, but it looks a bit tight.

“Ah, thanks Muel-ah. It looks nice on you too.”

Samuel doesn’t comment on the formality, but he’s a little worried. Is Daehwi lying to him? Does he really look nice? What if Daehwi is just saying that to make him feel better? Daehwi is too nice to say anything mean, plus, they’re friends, so doesn’t that mean Daehwi is obligated to say something kind? Daehwi must see Samuel fretting, because he changes the topic quickly.

“Samuel-ah, I’m so excited! Are you ready for the new school year?”

And with that, Samuel and Daehwi launch into an animated conversation about their expectations for the upcoming year. They leave the subway still chattering excitedly, and all the fears Samuel previously had disappear.

And then return full force when he sees the announcement board.

Class 1-2

Kim Samuel

 

Class 1-5

Lee Daehwi

They’re not in the same class. They’re not in. The same. Class. _They are not in the same class._ Samuel is going to die.

“I guess we can’t be together anymore,” Daehwi says. He looks close to tears, eyes watering.

“Maybe we could get the teachers to switch,” Samuel replies, voice cracking. He and Daehwi both know that the chances of that are slim. They make their way to the classrooms slowly, excitement dampened.

“At least we’ll be in the same building when we wanna talk and see each other,” Daehwi says. Samuel tries to give him a smile, but it’s a half-hearted attempt. They exchange one more round of sad smiles as they head to different floors. Samuel curses his luck.

As he enters his classroom, it’s completely silent and only half-filled. Nobody in particular catches his eye, and he takes his assigned seat, far on the left, halfway back, next to the window. There’s somebody sitting next to him, a boy with dark hair who’s furiously tapping away on his phone. He doesn’t look like he’s too interested in conversation, so Samuel figures he shouldn’t even try. As more students enter, there’s some low chatter, but everybody falls silent when they see the teacher walk in.

She’s pretty in an ice queen sort of way. Her eyes are frigid, and her mouth seems to be set permanently in a firm line.

“Hello. My name is Kahi. I’ll be your homeroom teacher for this year. This was not my choice. I’d much prefer teaching the girls, but for some reason, Boa thought it would be _so_ funny if I had to teach a bunch of idiot first years. I brought a list of printed rules for all of you. Make sure you read them thoroughly, and if you don’t comply, I will punish you. Do not lose these rules, because I will not provide another copy.”

Samuel flinches as she pulls out a thick stack of papers and slams it on her desk. As she begins to hand them out, Samuel can feel cold sweat start to bead on the back of his neck. He avoids eye contact with her as she places her rules in front of him.

“Tch. Not making eye contact. Bad manners,” she scoffs. But she moves on too quick for Samuel to try and rectify his mistake. He sighs, his first day is already off to an awful start. When Kahi returns to the front, she starts listing off school announcements. She explains even more general rules, to add on top of her own, as well as expected behavior. Samuel groans to himself and kisses his exciting first year goodbye. There would be no fun in this class. He can tell.

“I’m going to talk about student council now, so listen up.”

Samuel sat up straighter in his chair.

“You have the next two weeks to submit your name or nominate somebody for a position. Voting will happen the next week. You’re all first years, so you can only qualify for secretary or class representative. We have two class representatives. Don’t miss the deadline.”

Samuel considers entering the running. I mean, there’s no harm in trying, right? Lessons begin soon after that, and any thoughts Samuel had about student council are overshadowed by his focus on the material.

Their first break is awkward. Nobody attempts to start conversations, and just when Samuel has worked up the courage to try and talk to the person next to him the break ends. Lunch arrives and Samuel laments that he’s made no friends. Well, at least he has Daehwi.

He prepares to tell Daehwi all about the struggles of Kahi as a teacher. She moved quickly through material, and expected everybody to immediately follow. He’s also excited to show Samuel the ridiculously thick handout of Kahi’s own personal classroom rules.

Samuel steps outside and begins looking for Daehwi. He spots him near the stairs, but as he gets closer he can see that he’s already talking to another student. Samuel can’t really make out his features, but he can tell that he has an incredibly long neck. He watches silently as the two continue to talk, and then eventually begin walking away together. Upon closer inspection, Samuel sees Daehwi’s lunch scattered on the floor.

Sneakily, he decides to follow Daehwi and his new friend for just a bit. It’s not creepy, he’s just looking out for his best friend. What if this mysterious boy had bad intentions? And then what kind of friend would Samuel be? Exactly. So he _had_ to follow them. For Daewhi’s sake.

He follows them for a while, but when Daehwi begins to laugh he decides it’s probably for the best that he leaves them alone. Maybe he could go up to the roof? The sun came out during their second lesson, and eating outside is always refreshing. He heads up the stairs to find that the metal lock on the door has already been picked. He opens it slowly and peers outside. There are already two students sitting there. They look unfriendly. Incredibly unfriendly. Samuel turns around.

He’s heading down the stairs when he accidentally bumps shoulders with somebody far taller than him.

“Hey,” he says. “Watch it.”

Samuel tries not to hyperventilate.

“Y-Yes. I’m, uh, I’m so sorry, uh, ‘scuse me, I, uh, I didn’t mean to get in your way,” he stutters, bowing slightly. The boy lifts an eyebrow.

“…yeah, sure, whatever. Just move.”

Samuel is quick to hug the railing and let the stranger past him. He clutches his lunch near his chest and holds his breath. Well...maybe he can eat in the courtyard.

It seems that the courtyard is the right choice, because there’s an empty spot on the grass underneath a large tree. As he sits with his legs crossed under the tree, he tries not to feel lonely. There are other students around him, but they all seem to be in established groups already. Samuel is halfway through attempting to approach one when he makes eye contact with a boy that has harsh features and a slit on his left eyebrow. Samuel loses all his confidence and moves back towards his tree.

He returns to his class lonely and completely unprepared to focus on classwork again. Kahi resumes her lightning fast lecture pace, and Samuel struggles to keep up. When he turns to the side to try and ask a fellow student a question, Kahi yells at him for not paying attention, and he vows to never speak in class again. The boy beside him gives him a sympathetic look, but continues to take notes.

He’s copying notes from the board when Kahi slams her hand down on her desk.

“Yoo Seonho! Absolutely no phones in class!”

She’s not yelling at him, but Samuel flinches nonetheless.

“Ah, yes, sorry.”

“Bring it here.”

The boy, Seonho, stands up and moves to the front of the room. Kahi holds out her hand expectantly and Seonho hands over his cellphone. She slips it into the top drawer of her desk and it closes with a quiet thud.

“You can collect it at the end of the day.”

“Yes. I apologize.”

“No more disruptions,” she says. Her eyes are so cold. Samuel questions if she even has feelings. He settles on a firm ‘absolutely not.’

When the day is finally over, he feels a deep sort of exhaustion he hasn’t felt in years. He packs up his things and leaves immediately, completely forgetting that he was supposed to meet up with Daehwi after school. He’s so upset that almost nothing is processing correctly in his mind anyways.

When he arrives home, he collapses on his bed and tries not to cry. Why did his luck have to be so bad? Already he was attending high school without any of his former friends, and Daehwi and he were already separated. Maybe he should transfer, he’s not sure he can last a whole year of loneliness. He picks up his phone and starts to dial a familiar number.

“Hey! I didn’t get to see you all day. You left school so fast,” Daehwi says.

“D-Daehwi, I think I’m gonna transfer.”

Samuel sniffles.

“What?! Why?!”

Samuel replays the day’s events. There are so many reasons, how is he supposed to tell Daehwi all of them?

“The teacher’s really mean. And I didn’t make any friends. I tried really hard too.”

He decides not to mention how he chickened out of trying to talk to anybody.

“It’s only the first day,” Daehwi says. “I’m sure everyone else was nervous too. You’ll have all year to become friends.”

Even though Daehwi’s words are true, Samuel still can’t shake the feeling of doubt he has. He’s always found it difficult to make friends, and now, completely alone in a new school, he’s not sure if he’ll be able to at all. But there was no need to worry Daehwi, especially when the boy was already having such luck making connections.

“Y-Yeah, I guess so.”

Samuel starts talking about Kahi’s harsh rules and iron fist style teaching.

“Sh-She even confiscated somebody’s phone. It was just the first day too…ah, she’s really scary.”

As Daehwi began explaining how his class had the highest ranked first year, Samuel can’t help but feel somewhat jealous. Daehwi gets the highest ranked first year and all he gets is some dumb international student who “skipped a grade.” He’s suspicious of that, but doesn’t bring it up yet. He needs to find more evidence after all.

“Oh, my mom is calling for dinner. I’ll talk to you later Muel-ah! Bye,” Daehwi says.

“Bye.”

The call ends with a click. He goes down to find his own mother preparing dinner. He answers all her questions about school generically, and thanks her for the meal, voice devoid of emotion. Later that night, Samuel nods off to sleep almost immediately. He dreams of a giant monster with sharp horns and Kahi’s voice chasing him through never-ending hallways.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed it. Ha, poor Samuel...


End file.
